Museum and media studies at wildwalk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Museum and media studies at wildwalk - Essay Example The strings that hold us all together are many - and more than that, they are common threads that date back to centuries and generations long gone. I would like to assert that there is a great deal of importance attached to the study and preserving of our history and roots.While the subjects are vast, the elements of such studies form a large platform for determining the socio cultural and geographical implications of recorded history and work in the same context. In this regard, museums are more than just buildings that house pieces for children to enjoy on a field trip. This thought was accentuated during a recent visit I paid to the Wildwalk based in the centre of Bristol. As far as the conception of museums and their aims go, they work to reproduce ideologies in order to lend credibility and authenticity to the existing order of things. Also, museums have been seen as instruments of social reform, which shows a variety of pattern. The first is that the objects in museums can exceed their designated roles as documents or specimens by revolving around the strategic placement to make them give out a certain message in terms of sounds and images. This conforms to the notion of the Wildwalk adopting a certain standard of media culture. The primary role here is to correlate people and material things, so that the museum becomes an important site for the development of new forms of experience, memory and knowledge. In this case, it has adopted an approach that is an amalgamation of the naturalism and simulation theories. In case of naturalism, it has been found that the heritage industry gained a boost when Thatcher's time saw the commemoration of Britain's past when its industrial sector faced a decline in the 1970s. In order to keep the tourist inflow steady, there was a new interpretation of the past heritage and glory in terms of commoditization of a museum and its objects which have helped remove conflict within communities that have lost out on this heritage. (Bird et al, 1993) So far media culture was represented only in fields like film, music and television. But during the latter half of the twentieth century, this concept began to make its foray into various aspects that adhered to the public sphere. Museums now place special emphasis on the conept of media culture owing to the fact that it provides a strong conetxt for the study and presentation of facts pertaining to various material and socil behaviour. In this way, media in museum studies provides an impetus to link cultures and origins. This a point of interest for scholars and visitors alike owing to the fact that the use of media for learning and experiencing something new has been proven as an effective tool. (Piror, 2006) This demonstrates the fact that museums can be theorized as a form of media. To take the case of both historical and contemporary examples, one would have to admit that these examples are clear in international instances as well. Take for example, the play of curiosity and the related use of media to satisfy the same through the avant-garde exhibition design of Lissitzy and Bayer. Also, the use of media has seen the age of experimental museums that have been ushered in by the likes of Paul Otlet and Otto Neurath. Further, science centres hold their own in terms of immersive and virtual museums with major developments such as Guggenheim Bilbao, Tate Modern in London and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. (Piror, 2006) Based in nuances of iconography, the media aspect of Wildwalk is replete in the fact that it is a rainforest crammed with all kinds of live animals, plants and multimedia exhibits, which are waiting to be experienced. We use the word experience because here, one is in close contact with the nuances of the the awe inspiring diversity of the natural world in its spelndor. With an impetus to place facts and information in one's knowledge base through the use of creativity in media